Box gutters, and why the damage shows up inside
A built-in gutter is a wooden trough framed into the roof edge, lined with metal, sitting behind the parapet where you can't see it from the sidewalk. When it works, it's invisible. When the lining opens at a seam, the water doesn't drip off the front of the building, it soaks the framing and comes through a ceiling on the top floor, usually along an outside wall. Owners chase that leak as a roof problem for a year before anybody puts a ladder up and looks in the trough.
What we find in there is predictable: a seam that has worked open through a couple of hard freeze-thaw winters, a low spot holding water because the pitch flattened when the framing settled, or a rain conductor packed with a hundred years of grit. Any of those will keep a plaster ceiling wet.
The repair depends on what the wood under the lining is doing. If the decking is sound, the trough gets cleared, re-pitched where it can be, and relined so there's a continuous membrane through the corners and into the outlet. If the decking has gone soft, that carpentry comes first, and the honest version of that conversation includes a bigger number. We'd rather say it at the estimate than halfway through a tear-off.
Working inside a historic district
Soulard is a city historic district, and exterior changes can be reviewed. That shapes what we recommend. Putting the same profile back, in the same place, in a color that reads correct from the street is both the easier approval and usually the better-looking result. Where a previous owner hung modern K-style across an ornamental cornice, we'll price putting half-round back and we'll also price simply repairing what's up there, because not everybody wants to spend that money right now.
We're a roofing family, not a design firm, so we keep our lane. We tell you what the metal will do and what it costs. If the district review is going to be part of it, we'd rather flag that during the estimate than have you find out after material is ordered.
Access is half the estimate
These are attached and near-attached buildings on narrow lots. There's often no side yard at all, the alley is brick and barely wide enough for a truck, and the rear wall is three full stories over a courtyard. A crew that can hang a suburban ranch in a morning will spend most of a day here just getting to the work safely.
Sometimes the answer is staging instead of ladders. Sometimes it's working off the flat roof of the rear addition. On a couple of blocks we've gotten permission from a neighbor to set from their courtyard, which is a favor worth asking for early. None of that is exciting, but it's the difference between a real number and a number that grows once the crew shows up.
Downspouts with nowhere to go
On a rowhouse with a five-foot front setback, the downspout has three honest options: out to the street through a proper extension, back to the rear yard or courtyard, or into an existing drain if one exists and can be proven open. We'll snake a suspect line before we tie into it. Connecting a fresh downspout into a clogged 1920s conductor just moves the flood.
Water sheeting across a public sidewalk is its own hazard here. It freezes overnight in January and the building owner is the one who hears about it. If we can't get the discharge somewhere sensible, we'll say so instead of hanging a spout that points at a walkway. More on that in our notes on downspout drainage and on ice at the roof edge.
Soulard work we take
Repair and reseal
Open seams, failed outlets, corners weeping into brick.
Learn moreHalf-round
Bracket-hung half-round with round conductors, sized to the elevation.
Learn moreCopper
Copper trough and downspout where the building and the budget call for it.
Learn moreMixed-use buildings
Storefront-over-flats work with parapets and internal drainage.
Learn moreTrough clearing
Box gutters cleared by hand and conductors flushed, with photos of what we found.
Learn moreWood repair
Soft fascia and cornice framing addressed before new metal goes up.
Learn more
What we turn down here
Coating a box gutter that has rot under the lining. There are products that look like a fix on the day they go on. They buy a season, then the water finds the same soft wood and you've spent money twice.
Guards over a built-in trough. There's rarely a clean way to cover one without trapping debris under the cover, and a box gutter you can't inspect is a box gutter that surprises you. We'd rather put you on a clearing schedule.
Ripping out original half-round to hang standard K-style because it's cheaper by the foot. On some houses that's the right call and we'll do it. On a Soulard building with an intact cornice it usually isn't, and you'll notice the difference from across the street every day.
Neighboring blocks run into related problems. If you're comparing notes with somebody on the other side of the park, our Tower Grove page covers the brick two-story version of this, and our main St. Louis page lays out the whole service list.
Soulard gutter questions
Is our built-in gutter worth saving?
Often it is. A box gutter with sound decking underneath can be cleaned, re-pitched and lined, and that keeps the roofline looking the way the house was built. What kills one is rotted decking under the lining, because at that point the carpentry costs more than the metal.
Do you need approval before changing the gutters?
Soulard is a city historic district, so exterior work can be subject to review. We'd rather check that with you up front than order material and find out afterward. Repairing or lining what's already there is usually the simpler path.
There's no side yard. How do you set a ladder?
Off the front sidewalk, off the alley, or off the flat roof of the rear addition, depending on the elevation. On the tallest rear walls we set staging instead. It slows the job down and we say so in the estimate rather than surprising you with it.
Can you match the old half-round profile?
Yes, in aluminum or copper, with round downspouts if that's what came off. Half-round hangs on brackets rather than hidden hangers, and the bracket spacing matters more than people expect on a long run.
Our downspout dumps straight onto the sidewalk. Can that be moved?
Usually. On a rowhouse with no yard we look at running the discharge through to the rear, tying into an existing area drain, or extending along the base of the wall to the gangway. Water sheeting across a public walk freezes in January, and that's a problem beyond the house.
Around Soulard
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Free estimate in Soulard
Tell us what the ceiling is doing and where. We'll get up and look in the trough.
Related reading for old buildings
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